1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to a semiconductor device and, more particularly, to a semiconductor device having a semiconductor chip having a surface provided with at least an electronic circuit and a resin sealing hermetically sealing the surface of the semiconductor chip.
2. Description of the Related Art
Semiconductor devices have been used in various fields. Reduction in device dimensions and weight, and device miniaturization have been required of semiconductor devices applied to portable devices, such as IC cards, portable telephone sets, portable game machines and portable personal computers, and such reduction and miniaturization has progressively become important in recent years with the diffusion of portable devices. Various semiconductor devices have been proposed to meet such a demand in, for example:
Cited reference 1: JP-A No. 3-104141 PA1 Cited reference 2: JP-A No. 8-064725
In a semiconductor device proposed in Cited reference 1, projections connected to the pads of an IC chip project from a plastic molding generally sealing the IC chip. In a semiconductor device proposed in Cited reference 2, bumps or Au balls are formed on pads arranged in the periphery of a semiconductor chip, respectively, so that the bumps or the Au balls are exposed on the surface of a plastic molding.
It is known from those cited references that the semiconductor chip of the semiconductor device is provided on its surface with an electronic circuit. Signals are exchanged between the electronic circuit of the semiconductor chip and an external device, such as a wiring board on which the semiconductor chip is mounted, through bumps and electrode pads formed on the surface of the semiconductor chip; that is, the electrode pads are electrically connected to the electronic circuit formed on the surface of the semiconductor chip and the bumps to which external devices apply signals.
The surface of the semiconductor chip of the semiconductor device is divided into a circuit forming region in which the electronic circuit is formed, and an electrode pad region in which the electrode pads electrically connected to the electronic circuit and to the bumps through which signals are exchanged between the electronic circuit and external devices. The circuit forming region is in a central part of the surface of the semiconductor chip, and the electrode pad region is in a peripheral part of the surface extending along the sides of the semiconductor chip, i.e., a part surrounding the circuit forming region. The circuit forming region and the electrode pad region are thus arranged to facilitate work for connecting the electrode pads to the bumps and to avoid adversely affecting the electronic circuit when scribing a wafer to divide the wafer into semiconductor chips.
Generally, the bumps of the semiconductor device are formed at standardized positions. Therefore, it is difficult to form the bumps at desired positions when the semiconductor chip is miniaturized to meet the miniaturization of the semiconductor device. For example, when using a semiconductor device disclosed in Cited reference 1 or 2, the semiconductor device may be mounted on a wiring board provided with electrode pads corresponding to the respective positions of the bumps of the semiconductor device, and bumps electrically connected to the electrode pads formed in a standard arrangement.
Such a method of mounting the semiconductor device on the wiring board provided with the electrode pads and the bumps in a standard arrangement needs an additional wiring board, and hence increases the cost. Furthermore, since the completed semiconductor device is connected to the additional wiring board to construct a new semiconductor device, a complicated semiconductor device fabricating process is necessary, and additional problems are liable to arise due to the faulty connection of the semiconductor device and the additional wiring board and the separation of the semiconductor device from the additional wiring board.